Overcoming the religious spirit

31 Pages·1998·0.27 MB·English

by  Rick Joyner

Table of Contents
Part I
Discerning The Religious Spirit 5
Part II
Masks of the Religious Spirit
Part III
Summary
The Warning Signs of a Religious Spirit
Scoring on the Test
Ten Things We Can Do To Get Free Of The Religious Spirit
Conclusion

P a r t I
Discerning The Religious Spirit
Overcoming The Religious Spirit Loving God is the greatest commandment, and
the greatest gift that we can possess. The second greatest commandment is to
love our neighbor. As the Lord affirmed, the whole law is fulfilled by keeping
these two commandments. That is, if we keep these two commandments, we will
keep the whole law (see Matthew 22:34-40, Romans 13:8).
If we love the Lord, we will not worship idols. If we love our neighbors, we will
not envy them, steal from them, murder them, etc. Therefore, keeping these two
positive commandments to love will enable us to fulfill all of the negative "do
nots" of the law.
Simple love for God will overcome most of the evil in our hearts, and it is the
most powerful weapon against evil in the world. Because loving God is our
highest goal, it must be the primary focus of our lives.
That is why one of the enemy's most deceptive and deadly attacks upon the
church is meant to divert us from this ultimate quest. It is his strategy to keep us
focused on the evil in our lives, knowing that we will become what we are
beholding (see II Corinthians 3:18). As long as we keep looking at the evil, it
will continue to have dominion over us. When we look to the Lord and behold
His glory, we will be changed into His image.
This is not to imply that we should ignore the sins and errors that are in our lives.
In fact, the Scriptures command us to examine ourselves and test ourselves to be
sure that we are still in the faith (see II Corinthians 13:5). The issue is what do
we do after the iniquity is discovered? Do we turn to the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil, or to the Tree of Life? Do we try to make ourselves better so
that we will then be acceptable to God, or do we turn to the cross of Jesus to find
both the forgiveness and the power to overcome the sin?
A primary strategy of the enemy is intended to keep us focused on the evil,
partaking of the Tree of Knowledge, and away from the glory of the Lord and
the cross. This tactic comes in the form of a religious spirit, an evil spirit that is
the counterfeit of the true love of God and true worship. It has probably done far
more damage to the church than have the New Age movement and all other cults
combined.
The Nature of a Religious Spirit A religious spirit is a demon which seeks to
substitute religious activity for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Its
primary objective is to have the church "holding to a form of godliness,
although they have denied its power" (II Timothy 3:5). The apostle Paul
completed his exhortation with "avoid such men as these." This religious spirit
is the "leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6) of which the
Lord warned His disciples to beware.
The Lord often used metaphors to illustrate the lessons He taught. The religious
spirit does operate like the leaven in bread. It does not add substance or
nutritional value to the bread, it only inflates it. Such is the byproduct of the
religious spirit. It does not add to the life and power of the church, but merely
feeds the very pride of man which caused the first fall, and almost every fall
since.
Satan seems to understand even better than the church that "God resists the
proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6 NKJV). He knows very
well that God will not inhabit any work that is inflated with pride, and that God
Himself will even resist such a work. So Satan's strategy is to make us proud—
even proud of good things, such as how much we read our Bibles, or witness, or
feed the poor. He knows that if we do the will of God in pride, our work will be
counterproductive and could even ultimately work toward our fall.
Satan also knows that once leaven gets into the bread, it is extremely difficult to
remove. Pride, by its very nature, is the most difficult stronghold to remove or
correct. A religious spirit keeps us from hearing the voice of God by encouraging
us to assume that we already know God's opinion, what He is saying, and what
pleases Him. This delusion is the result of believing that God is just like us. This
will even cause the rationalization of Scripture, having us believe that rebukes,
exhortations and words of correction are for other people, but not for us.
If a religious spirit is a problem in your life, you have probably already begun to
think about how badly someone you know needs to read this message.
It may not even have occurred to you that God put this into your hands because
you need it. In fact, we all need it. This is one enemy that all of us are probably
battling to some degree. It is imperative that we get free of this devastating
deception, and stay free. We will not be able to worship the Lord in Spirit and
truth until we do.
The degree to which we have been delivered from this powerful deception will
directly affect the degree to which we will be able to preach the true gospel in
power. The church's confrontation with the religious spirit will be one of the epic
battles of the last days. Everyone will be fighting in this battle. Theonly issue to
be determined is which side we will be on.
We will not have the authority to deliver others from darkness if we are not free
from it ourselves. To begin taking ground from this vast enemy, we must ask the
Lord to shine His light on us, showing how this applies to us personally. As
illustrated by the Lord's continual confrontations with the Pharisees, the church's
most desperate fight from the very beginning has been with this spirit. Just as the
primary characteristic of the Pharisees was focusing on what was wrong with
others while being blind to their own faults, the religious spirit tries to make us
do the same.
The Great Deception
One of the most deceptive characteristics about the religious spirit is that it is
founded upon zeal for God. We tend to think that zeal for God cannot be evil,
but that depends on why we are zealous for Him.
Paul wrote of his Jewish brethren in Romans 10:2: "For I bear them witness
that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge." No
one on earth prayed more, fasted more, read the Bible more, had a greater hope
in the coming of the Messiah, or had more zeal for the things of God than the
Pharisees. Yet, they were the greatest opposers of God and His Messiah when He
came.
The young Saul of Tarsus was motivated by zeal for God while he was
persecuting His church. Zeal for God is one of the most desperately needed
characteristics of the church today, most of which is bound by a terrible
Laodicean lukewarmness. The 9
Overcoming The Religious Spirit Lord commanded the Laodicean church to "be
zealous therefore, and repent" (Revelation 3:19).
Those who are truly zealous are the most difficult to stop, so the enemy's
strategy against them is to push them too far. His first step is to get them to glory
in their own zeal. Regardless of how important a gift or characteristic is that we
have, if the enemy can get us to take pride in it, he will have us in his snare and
will use that gift for evil.
The Lord had little trouble with demons while He walked the earth. They
quickly recognized His authority and begged for mercy. It was the conservative,
zealous, religious community that immediately became His greatest enemy.
Those who were the most zealous for the Word of God crucified the Word
Himself when He became flesh to walk among them. The same is still true.
All of the cults and false religions combined have not done as much damage to
the moves of God as the opposition, or infiltration, of the religious spirit in the
church. Cults and false religions are easily discerned, but the religious spirit has
thwarted or diverted possibly every revival or movement to date, and it still
retains a seat of honor throughout most of the visible church.
It is a manifestation of the religious spirit that will take its seat in the very temple
of God, declaring himself to be God (II Thessalonians 2:4). The temple of God is
no longer made with hands, and this is not speaking about a building in
Jerusalem. This man of sin will take his seat in the church. Unfortunately, it will
be the church that allows him to do this.
The Two Foundations
Discerning The Religious Spirit Like most of the enemy's strongholds, the
religious spirit builds its work on two basic foundations: fear and pride. The
religious spirit seeks to have us serve the Lord in order to gain His approval,
rather than from a position of having received our approval through the cross of
Jesus.
Therefore the religious spirit bases relationship to God on personal discipline
rather than the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. The motivation for doing this can
be either fear or pride, or a combination of both.
Fear and pride are the two basic results of the Fall, and our deliverance from
them is usually a long process. That is why the Lord even gave Jezebel "time to
repent" (see Revelation 2:20-21). The biblical Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab,
was a very religious woman, but she was given to false religion.
The Lord gave her time to repent, because the roots of this spirit go so deep that
time is required to fully repent and be delivered from it.
However, even though the Lord gave Jezebel time to repent, He rebuked the
church of Thyatira for tolerating her (verse 20). We can be patient with people
who have religious spirits, but we must not tolerate their ministry in our midst
while we are waiting! If this spirit is not confronted quickly, it will possibly do
more damage to the church, our ministries, our families, and our lives, than any
other assault that we may suffer.
The Foundation of Guilt
Eli, the priest who raised Samuel, is a biblical example of someone who
ministered in a religious spirit founded upon guilt. Eli had so much zeal for
the Lord that when he heard that the Ark had been captured by the Philistines, he
fell over and died. He had spent his life trying to serve the Lord as the High
Priest, but the very first prophetic word given to Samuel was one of the most
frightening rebukes given in the Scriptures—and it was directed to Eli!
For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the
iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and
he did not rebuke them.
And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's
house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever (I Samuel 3:13-
14).
Eli's zeal for the Lord was based on sacrifices and offerings intended to
compensate for his irresponsibility as a father. Guilt can spur us on to great zeal
for the Lord, and our sacrifices and offerings become an attempt to atone for our
failures.
This is an affront to the cross, which alone can atone for our guilt. Such zeal will
never be acceptable to the Lord, even if we could make sacrifices forever.
We should note here that the Lord never said that Eli's sin couldn't be forgiven.
He just said that Eli's attempts to atone for sin by sacrifice and offering would
never succeed. There are multitudes of men and women whose zeal for the Lord
is likewise based on an attempt to atone for sin, failure or irresponsibility in
other areas of their lives. But all the sacrifices in the world will not atone for
even our smallest failure. To even make such an attempt is an insult to the cross
of Jesus, which is the only acceptable sacrifice to the Father for sin.
Attempting to gain God's approval by our own sacrifice opens the door wide for
a religious spirit, because such service is not based on the blood of Jesus, but on
an attempt to make our own atonement for sin. This doesn't mean we should not
do things to please the Lord, but we must keep as our motive to be pleasing to
the Lord for His joy, not for our acceptance. One is God-centered; the other is
self-centered. And this is self-centeredness of the most destructive kind—an
attempt to circumvent the cross.
It is also noteworthy that one of the sins of Eli's sons was that they "despised
the offering of the Lord" (I Samuel 2:17). They appropriated for their own
selfish use the sacrifices and offerings brought to the Lord. Those who are
gripped by this form of a religious spirit will often be the most zealous to preach
the cross, but herein lies the perversion: It emphasizes their cross more than the
cross of Jesus.
Their delight really is more in self-abasement than in the cross of Christ, which
alone makes us righteous and acceptable to God.
The Foundation of Pride
Idealism is one of the most deceptive and destructive disguises of the religious
spirit. Idealism is of human origin, and is a form of humanism.
Although it has the appearance of seeking only the highest standards and the
preservation of God's glory, idealism is possibly the most deadly enemy of true
revelation and true grace. It is deadly because it does not allow for growing up
into grace and wisdom, but attacks and destroys the foundation of those who are
in pursuit of God's glory, but are not yet there.
Idealism makes us try to impose on others standards that are beyond what God
has required or given the grace for at that time. For example, men controlled by
this kind of religious spirit may condemn those who are not praying two hours a
day as they are. The truth is, it may be God's will for us to be praying that much,
but how we get there is crucial.
The grace of God may first call us to pray just ten minutes a day. Then, as we
become so blessed by His presence, we will want to spend more and more time
with Him until we will not want to quit after ten minutes, then an hour, then two.
When we eventually are praying two hours a day, it will be because of our love
for prayer and the presence of the Lord, not out of fear or pride.
A person with a religious spirit based on idealism will usually seek the perfect
church, and will refuse to be a part of anything less. Those led by the Holy Spirit
may also have high hopes for a church, but will still be able to give themselves
in service to even some of the most lowly works, in order to help those works
grow in vision and maturity. The Holy Spirit is called "the Helper," and those
who are truly led by the Spirit will always be looking for ways to help, not just
to stand aloof and criticize.
When a religious spirit is founded upon pride, it is evidenced by perfectionism.
The perfectionist sees everything as black or white. This develops into extremes,
requiring that every person and every teaching be judged as either 100% right or
100%
wrong. This is a standard with which only Jesus could comply; it will lead to a
serious delusion when we impose it on ourselves or others. True grace imparts a
truth that sets people free, showing them the way out of their sin, and beckoning
them to higher levels of spiritual maturity.
One with a religious spirit can usually point to problems with great accuracy, but
seldom has solutions, except to tear down what has already been built. This is
the strategy of the enemy to nullify progress that is being made and to sow a
discouragement that will limit future progress. This produces the mentality that,
if we cannot go straight to the top of the mountain, we should not climb at all,
but just "die to self." This is a death that God has not required, and it is a
perversion of the exhortation for us to take up our crosses daily.
The perfectionist both imposes and tries to live by standards that stifle true
maturity and growth. The grace of God will lead us up the mountain step by
step. The Lord does not condemn us because we may trip a few times while
trying to climb. He graciously picks us up with the encouragement that we can
make it. We must have a vision of making it to the top, and should never
condemn ourselves for not being there yet, as long as we are still climbing.
James said, "We all stumble in many ways" (James 3:2). If we had to wait
until we were perfect before we could minister, no one would ever qualify for
the ministry. Even though perfect obedience and understanding should always be
our goal, such will never be found within ourselves, but only as we come to
perfectly abide in the Perfect One.
Because we now see "through a glass darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12 KJV), or
in part, we must always be open to greater accuracy in our beliefs and teachings.
One of the greatest delusions of all is that we are already complete in our
understanding, or 100% accurate in our perceptions or actions. Those with a
religious spirit will usually claim to be open to more understanding, but most of
the time this is done to get everyone else to be open to what they teach, while
they remain steadfastly closed to others.
Jesus blessed Peter and turned the keys of the kingdom over to him just before
He had to rebuke him by calling him "Satan" (see Matthew 16:23).
Right after this greatest of blessings, the enemy deceived him, yet the Lord did